Warren had the good fortune to be slotted in prime TV time last night, a chance to offer her vision and rationale for running for the US Senate slot that many Democrats nationally still view as “Teddy’s seat.” But that good fortune was tinged with bad luck when her address began right at the start of the second half of the closely fought NFL season opener between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants on NBC, which also eliminated one broadcast network from showing the speech. (At least she didn’t have to worry about competing with the Red Sox game in Seattle.)

In fact, Warren mentioned GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (once) more than she referred to Brown (zero). And as a surrogate for Obama, she did a masterful job in riling up the base by lambasting Mitt Romney’s courting of corporations and top earners.

“After all, Mitt Romney’s the guy who said corporations are people,” Warren told the frenzied partisans. “No, Governor Romney, corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love, and they die.

“And that matters, and that matters, because we don’t run this country for corporations, we run it for people.”

The Harvard professor made only passing references to the Bay State, offering a “shout out” to the delegation and relaying a couple anecdotes about people she’s met on the trail. But, again, she used those as a jab at Romney rather than a dagger for Brown.

“I talk to nurses and programmers, salespeople and firefighters — people who bust their tails every day,” she said. “Not one of them – not one – stashes their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.”

The Washington Post sizes up yesterday’s winners and losers, and, yes, Warren was one of the winners. The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper of record for the folks on the receiving end of Warren’s barbs, plays up Warren in a big way: It contrasts Clinton’s performance withWarren’s “sharp attack,” and devotes a second piece to the meat of Warren’s speech.

Ashby residents want a recount in a Proposition 2 1/2 override that passed by three votes.

NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON

Gov. Deval Patrick tells ABC News that he may run for office again someday, but definitely not the presidency in 2016.

ELECTION 2012

Timothy Noahdeconstructs on The New Republic site just how powerfully Bill Clinton delivered for President Obama. It’s too early to call Clinton Obama’s closer, but NPR says he came about as close as you can get. The New York Timesdoes some fact-checking on Democratic assertions, but concludes Clinton’s claim that Democratic presidents added more jobs than their Republican counterparts over the last 51 years checks out. Greater Bostontries to answer the question: Are we better off now than four years ago? Keller@Large does a head-scratching critique of Gov. Deval Patrick’s speech at the convention. Moms grade the Ann Romney and Michelle Obama speeches. Gail Collinsis a fan. The Atlanticdepicts Clinton doing Obama’s dirty work.

Obama moves indoors: Only the incomparable Nate Silver could run the numbers like this on the historic threat of September thunderstorms in Charlotte between 8 and 11 pm and bring in for context some weatherology on storm patterns in Denver, where Obama spoke four years ago in an open-air stadium.

CommonWealth’s Michael Jonas writes that Gov. Deval Patrickwas telling tales out of school when he claimed in his DNC speech on Tuesday that Boston’s Orchard Gardens School rocketed in less than year from one of the worst in the district to one of the best in the state. Today’s Globe gives attention to the improvements at Orchard Gardens — while noting that Patrick’s boast “raised a few eyebrows.” The story trots out the same stats CommonWealth reported that show how far off mark the governor was.

A USA Today editorial argues that white “Reagan Democrats” have been left behind by the Democratic Party.

When it comes to inheriting a tough economy and having mixed success getting it back on track, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have a lot in common, reports the Globe. Princeton economist Alan Blinderargues in his Wall Street Journal op-ed column that Romney and Paul Ryan want to trade FDR for Ayn Rand.

An anonymous ransom note sent to Pricewaterhouse Coopers asks $1 million for the return of Mitt Romney’s tax records, NPR reports (via WBUR).

A study by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy finds that mutli-year grants for nonprofits during the economic downturn dropped by 37 percent but if the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is excluded, the decrease jumps to 55 percent.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Footprint Power takes on Toyota Tsusho, a Japanese company that is part of the Toyota Motors group of firms, as a partner in the development of a natural gas power plant at the site of Salem’s old coal plant, the Salem Newsreports.

Lawyers for New Bedford and Gloucester urge a federal appeals court to assert control over a groundfishery they say is being rapidly consolidated, the Gloucester Times reports.

For-profit Steward Health Care, whose aggressive expansion plans were detailed in the current issue of CommonWealth, has signed an agreement to bring on 110 health care providers who have been affiliated with Partners HealthCare System.

Governingexamines the resident verification technology used by the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector.

The Associated Press dissects the impact of the court ruling ordering a transgender inmate’s request for sex-reassignment surgery.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

The state’s district attorneys are worried about the possible effect on thousands of cases of revelations of misconduct at the state drug-testing lab.